Protégete

Protégete is a program that builds a more powerful and influential voice for local Latino communities and leaders in the fight against climate change by promoting a healthy future for all Coloradans.

Protégete means “protect yourself!” Many Coloradans are underrepresented in protecting themselves from the impacts of climate change. Protégete empowers and organizes the Latino community to take action about the dangers that climate change presents to our communities and the urgent actions that our community should take to make sure that we are sitting at the table of the decision-making process, like clean energy and energy efficiency, increase access to public lands, water conservation and water quality in our community that we can support through local, state and national policy.

This work continues in 2018 on an unprecedented scale and you can be a part of it! Latino communities suffer disproportionate impacts from pollution, including increased rates of asthma and respiratory disease. We reach out to communities and foster leadership to build a strong voice for Latino families for clean air, healthy communities, and a safe climate for future generations.

Speak up for our comunidad in Colorado!

Join Protégete to ensure Latinos in Colorado have a seat at the decision-making table!

Our Work

Clean Buses for Healthy Niños

Every child has the right to breathe clean air and access safe transportation to and from school. Yet across the country, approximately 25 million children take diesel-powered school buses every day, which can have long-term negative health impacts. Diesel school bus emissions expose kids and communities to dirty pollutants that can cause respiratory problems including asthma attacks, which are the leading chronic illness and the number one cause for school absence for children and adolescents.

Advanced Clean Car Standards

The recent rollback of federal clean car standards is an attack on our public health and economy. Submit a comment to the Colorado Air Quality Control Commission as they consider state-based clean car standards right here in Colorado. These standards will get more electric vehicles on the market that will clean up our air and save money at the gas pump. Take action today!

The Colorado Energy Plan

Right now, Coloradans have a chance to increase the use of clean energy like wind and solar in our state. The Colorado Public Utilities Commission is deciding whether to approve a plan that would shut down two coal fired power plants and replace them with 2,500 megawatts of renewable energy. Urge the PUC to approve the plan for clean energy and clean air.

Colorado's Conservation Future

Coloradans know our environment — our clear blue skies, clean water, and wild places — is vital to our way of life. But if we want to protect our way of life, especially as our population grows, we need to stand up for conservation values. Colorado’s Conservation Future lays out our vision for the future — but we need our next governor to share that vision. Take action to tell Jared Polis and Walker Stapleton that they need to protect Colorado’s future!

Recent Protégete News

Written by Juan Gallegos When I first learned about organizing and the potency of speaking truth to power, one person leaped to the forefront of my mind: Cesar Chavez. This week, the famous labor organizer, Latinx leader, and environmental activist is on the mind of a...

By: Asheton Gilbertson “I want to [see] more respect for the environment and the communities that are living in that environment. People are being taken advantage of. We have to try to change. Going out and canvassing and talking to politicians, that’s a...

Fifty years ago, President Lyndon B. Johnson recognized the United States' Hispanic population by creating Hispanic Heritage Week. The week was later expanded to a month by President Reagan in 1988, and it stretches from September 15 to October 15 every year to...